F80EXR vs F70EXR – Macro at 1600iso – It’s a tie!

I waited until late in the afternoon, when the light was a nice balanced color, but very weak where I sit. I have been wanting to capture a dark texture at 1600 ISO with both cameras to see how they react with normal colored but very low light.

I shot two images each in macro mode from the same location. They were hand held, but released with self timer and heavily braced against a solid rubber keyboard wrist rest.

All images have exactly the same exposure, 1/4” (very low light), f/3.3 (wide open). and 1600 ISO (forced, but the cam would have chosen this anyway with those shutter speeds.)

The SN images look a tad sharper, probably a result of increase in micro-contrast because SN mode uses DR100. I always shoot DR400 in P mode because I like to add contrast to taste, not have the camera choose for me. But what that means is that the camera often produces slightly flat looking images.

I like that, but if you do not then consider working with DR100 or DR200. Just watch your highlights because it is much easier to blow them out without hardware help.

I tend to feel that the F70EXR produces more 3-dimensionality, and it really does when things get really dark and the light takes on some orange color (indoor lights, sodium vapor, etc.) But here the difference is very subtle, and at times the F80 looks a bit crisper. So I call this a tie.

Now, remember that these are macro shots from really close in, so the details are quite large compared to the photosites. What this means is that the noise reduction algorithms are backing off, leaving these cameras about equal in detail and noise for this specific test case.